Dragons more complete in 2011: Soward

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The Dragons are poised to end an 11-year hoodoo against the Raiders in Canberra on Monday night with in-form five-eighth Jamie Soward declaring they are a more complete side than when they won the premiership in 2010.

"This time last year we were still developing as a team," said Soward, who is set to play his 100th game for the Dragons tonight.

"The left hand side was dominating the attack and getting a lot of headlines for that. This year, if anything, we're more complete. We can go both sides.

"Mark Gasnier is in great form on the right and so is Jason Nightingale. We have worked hard on it this year. Trying to get Gaz ball at the right time is a big part of that.

"You only had to see Matt Cooper's performance on Monday night (against the Sharks) to see we can go both sides now. We hope to keep working on that come finals time and over the next two months."

But form, ladder position and past records mean little says Soward when the third-placed Dragons, coming off an emphatic 38-8 win over the Sharks, clash with the third-last Raiders who were thumped 26-0 by the Storm last week.

If past records are a guide, it is the Raiders who should be confident - the Dragons have not beaten the Raiders in Canberra since 2000; as well as winning just one of their past 12 encounters over them.

"It’s one of those records … both times we have gone down there in the last two years we have lead at half-time but haven't come out in the second half and gone on with it," Soward said.

"Every team has their bogey team and the Raiders are ours obviously. We've addressed it at training and the fact that it is just another game. The record over the last 10 years means nothing. We are in a good position and want to build on it.

"Canberra is always a dangerous side no matter where they're coming on the ladder,” he said. "Without Terry Campese they are a different prospect but they have two young halves that will compete for the 80 minutes and we are aware of that.

"The most important thing for us is going into the back end of the season worrying about ourselves. In the next few months we play those teams fighting for a final eight position and we need to consolidate our place in the four. It is an important month for us and it starts Monday night."

It is no coincidence that the Dragons' post-Origin "mini season" kicked off with a confident and dominant performance against the Sharks last week by Soward, who showed no obvious signs of Origin tiredness, unlike Cronulla captain Paul Gallen.

"Origin was certainly a draining experience mentally and physically," Soward said. “We got seven days off after that and I stayed on the Gold Coast with my partner Emma and her family and had a few days away from football.

"That was really refreshing for me. By the time it came the Sharks game I was very keen to get back on the paddock.

"The thing with Paul Gallen is he also plays in the middle. His workload is a lot higher than mine. Physically his body has taken a toll at the moment. Mine had time to freshen up. That showed with most of our guys on Monday night."

Soward said his Origin experience had given him some things he could take back to the Dragons and use to help the club.

"Confidence wise, going through that, playing at that level against some of the best players in the world, really was a highlight for me,” he said. "Something I brought back was that I could play at that level.”

Soward said that the Dragons were treating the post-Origin back-end of the season like a "mini season" and their game against the Sharks last Monday was like the first game of the year.

"We wanted to come out and make a statement; not a statement that we're still in the competition, we wanted to play for the full 80 minutes especially after them beating us in round two," he said.

Soward agreed that the 2010 finals experience will be an advantage for the club come finals footy in September this year.

"2009 was obviously a disappointing end for us," he said.

"We really worked hard in 2010 about having no regrets. It was the first pre-season a lot of us or most of us had had with no regrets about the season before.

"We are working towards that goal and we need to make sure that hopefully come grand final time we are as relaxed as we were last year. I thought last year there was quite a lot of pressure on us and we handled it great as a group.

"It is important that we stay grounded and handle it the same way this year."